Dora's Friend
by athena2517
Summary: Nymphadora's best friend is always looking out for her, whether Dora knows it or not. The course of true love never did run smooth, and she shows up now and then to give it a nudge, and show her love for the mismatched couple. Tonks/Lupin
1. This is love

_Author's note: I just watched the 7__th__ movie. I have always been disappointed by the lack of Tonks/Lupin I the movies. This popped into my head and refused to leave so I thought I would share it. I dedicate this fic to fellow fans who cried or almost cried during the seventh book or movie._

_Disclaimer: I do not own any plotlines or characters apart from my OC. Surprised?_

**Dora's friend**

**This is love.**

Dora's friend was seething with rage. Her hands shook and her eyes blazed with fury. She had been best friends with Tonks for a number of years. Just out of Hogwarts and training to be an auror she quickly took to the older girl. Her clumsiness made her approachable but the girl was always in awe of Tonks' skill as an auror and her kindness. Tonks always looked after her, and now it was her turn. For months she had watched Tonks turn from a clumsy new recruit to the Order into a girl in love, then a heartbroken shell of her formerly bubbly self.

"Point me." She told her wand. She followed it towards one of the rooms in the Leaky Cauldron. She knocked on the door, there was no answer.

"Remus Lupin! Open this bloody door!" She yelled. She heard footsteps inside and the door slowly creaked open. As soon as his worn, tired face was revealed she pulled back her arm and slammed her fist into his nose.

He cried out in pain and shock and fell backwards onto the floor. She pushed his foot out of the way of the door, stepped inside, and closed the door. Remus lay flat out on the floor, holding his face.

"Wa da bludy 'ell was dat fo?" he choked out as blood flowed from his nose.

"Episky!" She said, pointing her wand at his face. There was a crack and his hands fell to his sides.

"You should know what that was for, git." She said. "The whole world's gone to hell, Voldemort's back, Dumbledore's dead, and war has begun again. The whole world's in danger, you or her my die at any moment, and yet you can't get past your own issues enough to give the woman you love the comfort she needs."

"I'm not good for her. She deserves-"

"To love who she bloody well pleases, and to be loved in return." She said, interrupting. Lupin got up and plopped himself into a chair, putting his face in his hands.

"That's true. She should love and be loved, but not by me. " He said, she took a deep breath in and out.

"Her life is about to turn into a living hell. She may die in this war, we all might. Whatever may have happened in her life before she met you, whatever she may have done, whoever she may have loved, she loves you now. Maybe if she had fallen for someone else, things would be different, but this is the way it is. She loves you, and although you try not to show it, you love her too."

He looked guilty and heartbroken. He leaned his head against the back of the chair and she guiltily eyed the blood on his face.

"I'm sorry I punched you. You're just so frustrating. You're so caught up with feeling unworthy that you can't see what a good thing this could be for the both of you. She told you to your face that she didn't care what you are. Why aren't you snogging her right now?" She asked, genuinely curious.

"I'm going on a mission. I'll be away and it'll be dangerous. I don't want to hurt her." He looked her in the eye. "Also, it's hard to snog someone when you have a freshly broken nose." He said, he finally had a bit of laughter in his eyes.

"You deserved it. Well, now that you've come to your senses I will have to remind you that I knew you both long before you knew each other. With all my experience with the pair of you I know that what you have to do is go running back to Dora's side." He nodded reluctantly at her advice.

"Then what?" he asked.

"Start groveling my friend." She said with a smile. She stood and went to leave. "Before you go Remus? You may want to clean yourself up. Also, breathe a word of this visit and I will break your nose, and perhaps a few other bones." She gave Remus a one armed hug and as she reached the door Remus called,

"That's blackmail." She turned.

"No, Remus, this is love." She left.

_Keep reading, things will get better, and more intense as the story goes on. Please R&R!_


	2. A scary day

**Dora's friend**

**A scary day.**

"You know I love you, and I'd do anything for you, but this is asking a bit much."

"Oh come on! It's really not that bad!"

"Yes it is! I wasn't trained for this! How could you do this to me?"

"Because I love you, and because this is partly _your _fault."

"_My _fault? How can you blame this on me?"

"You introduced us." Tonks said as she watched her best friend struggling with her bride's maid's dress. Tonks was already in her white dress and her wayward friend was convinced that being asked to be her maid of honor was akin to a death sentence.

"That I did." She admitted. "Very well, if I must preform this duty, I may as well do it right, I'll go check on the groom and see if we can get this day over with." She said with a smile back at Tonks as Tonks giggled.

Her heels clicked on the floor and she stumbled in them. As a result she was cursing as she entered Remus's dressing room. He looked up and she stopped immediately and smiled at him.

He was pale and looked scared. Arthur Weasley stood in one corner and glared at her for her language.

"Hey Remus! How are you? Ready to get hitched so I can get out of these damned heels?" she asked.

"I'm fine, and yes I'm ready." He attempted a smile and failed.

"How's Dora?" Remus asked.

"Can we have the room, Arthur?" she asked. He shrugged, smiled at Remus, clapped him on the shoulder and went to stand outside. As soon as he left she turned to Remus.

"Fine is not something you are on your wedding day. Excited, ecstatic, happy, and in love are the acceptable answers. Dora is all of those. I know for a fact that you are in love, so why did you say fine?" she asked.

"It feels rushed, in the middle of a war and all. Also, Arthur is my best man." He looked at his reflection and she put her hands on his shoulders.

"We all miss Sirius, but he would be the first to approve of this wedding, and he wouldn't want to be the one that's got you down." Remus smiled at the memories of Sirius in the old days.

"I must admit, I'm scared. I'm scared that I may be damning her to a life of exile." She squeezed his shoulders.

"The only people who will care what you are are the people she doesn't like. The only people that she cares about are the sort of people who look inside a person for who they are." She reached around him and covered the scars on his face with her hands. "This is who my friend is marrying today. Remus Lupin, the man of her dreams. He also," She said, taking her hands away. "Happens to be a werewolf, and she loves that too." He smiled and stood.

"Ready?" she asked.

"Is definitely an acceptable answer?" he asked.

"Definitely." She said, and did her duty as maid of honor, in bare feet.


	3. Fear will pass

**Dora's friend**

**Fear will pass**

There was a knock on the door and her heart skipped a beat. She put her back to the door, her wand out.

"Who is it?" she called.

"It's Tonks." Came the muffled reply.

"What is the last thing I said to you on your wedding day?"

"Don't break Moony, we may need him later." Came the answer. Judging by her voice, something was terribly wrong. She flung open the door and instantly her arms were filled with a sobbing Tonks. She kicked the door shut and held her friend, her heart was racing.

"Tonks? Tonks, what's wrong? Dora, talk to me! What's happened?" Nothing made her bubbly Dora just break down like this. She pulled back and looked Dora in the face. Her eyes were red and tears flowed freely down her cheeks.

"He's gone. He left. I can't believe he would just-" She started sobbing again. Dragging Tonks across the room and sitting her on the couch she asked,

"Why? What did he say? What happened?" She asked, knowing instantly who she was talking about.

"I don't know what I expected. I should have known this would happen but I was so- I was just so-" Tonks took a deep breath.

"So what? Please try to be coherent. I thought I talked fluent Tonks, but this is beyond even my abilities."

"I'm pregnant." Tonks blurted. Her friend's jaw dropped. She struggled to speak and finally got out a sentence.

"Congratulations Tonks!" was all she could manage and she threw her arms around Dora's shoulders. Then she remembered why she was there.

"You told him that and he left?" she asked.

"He freaked out. Remus said that he had made us both outcasts. It was like he went mad. He said that the only way for us to have a future was for him to leave. I-I don't think he's coming back this time." She choked out and started to cry again.

"Look at me." She commanded, and Tonks obeyed.

"See these?" She held up Dora's hand to show her the wedding ring that sat on her finger.

"These are a promise. They are a promise that no matter how scared he is, not matter how hard it will be to come back, he will return."

"What if he can't? What if he dies before he can come back? What if fear fueled by love is stronger than his desire to come home?"

"He won't die. You know why? Because he can't. Love is too strong to let him leave his wife and his child. As for fear, fear passes. I promise he will come back before his child is born. Love is more powerful than most people give it credit for."

A week later, Remus came back to Tonks, he groveled, and she broke his nose, then fixed it, and snogged him.


	4. Miracle

**Dora's friend**

**A Miracle**

A house full of Weasleys was an interesting place, no matter what the occasion. Ginny, the twins, and their parents were all swarming about. That may not seem like many people, but with Weaselys, every person counted as three, the twins were seven. Each.

Just at that moment, the twins were tormenting her. Flirting with her like she was a fellow student. She loved the twins, they were fun, but they were starting to get on her nerves.

"Your hair is as brown as-"

"Chocolate and your lips-"

"Are as red as a strawberry-"

"You are like-"

"A buffet of beauty-"

"Quit it you two." She commanded. They laughed, glad that they had gotten a reaction. They took a breath to continue. "I mean it!" she said. "I feel like you are cannibals in the making." They laughed and sauntered off to bother someone else.

All of a sudden a patronus appeared in the middle of the kitchen, Lupin's voice echoed around the room.

"_**We need you at the Tonks resident, now.**_" Was all he said. She took him at his word and she swept out the door hurriedly and apparated into their living room. Ted Tonks pointed his wand at her.

"What is the first thing Dora taught you in your auror training?" he asked as the security question.

"How to catch a person who trips down the steps right in front of you. She's very graceful." She answered. He gestured to a side door. Confused, she opened the door cautiously and entered, then gasped.

Dora was lying in Remus's arms, holding a small bundle. His arms were wrapped around the pair of them and he got up as she walked in to embrace her.

"Dora! You've had the baby!" she squealed.

"So I'd noticed." Tonks replied sarcastically.

"Congrats!" she said and threw her arms around Remus again, then cautiously around Tonks and the baby. She looked down at the small face peeking out of the blanket.

"It's a boy and his name is Teddy after Dora's father." Remus said before she could ask.

"It's so good to meet you, Teddy." She said. "Remus, you look delirious with happiness, I don't think I've ever seen a smile so big, be careful your head doesn't split in half." She teased.

Remus took the baby from Tonks and Tonks said, "You're the godmother." It took a while for this to register in her brain, but when it did, she laughed with joy and squeezed Dora in a hug.

"I'm off to spread the news." Remus said. He handed the baby to his godmother. "Take care of them until I get back." He ordered and he left smiling.

"I'll always help take care of this little miracle." She said.


	5. Goodbye and good luck

**Dora's friend**

**Goodbye, and good luck**

She staggered into the room covered in blood and grime. Her head spun and she shook slightly as she approached the crib. Teddy was awake and she silently picked him up.

"Hey, Teddy." She said, her voice uneven and shaky.

"What's up, little buddy? Huh? I've-uh… I've got something to tell you, sweetheart. You're not going to like it." She closed her eyes and whispered quietly, "Oh god." She opened her eyes and started again.

"Teddy, I know you're too young to understand this, but Mummy and Daddy are going to have to go away for a while." Her voice broke and her eyes filled up with tears.

"They're going away and they aren't going to be back for a very long time. You won't be able to hear them, but they can hear you. They're here, Teddy. They're always here." Tears started to run down her face.

"I'm sorry, Teddy. God, I'm so so sorry. You're not going to be able to see Mum and Dad for a long, long time." Her lips trembled as she spoke and the tears continued to fall.

"I'm going to take care of you from now on, little one. Is that all right? It's just me, auntie River Lupin. My brother- Your Daddy and mommy love you very much, but they can't take care of you, here. They love you, and each other very much." She sobbed.

"I loved them too, I do love them. I'm going to make sure that you do too. I want you to know that they died so that you could be happy one day. I want you to know that your parents are… were wonderful people. They will be missed very much. I promise I won't let you forget them. You'll grow up with stories of your father's marauder days, and your mum's grace. You'll hear about Uncle Sirius's antics and how your parents were heroes. Every day I will remind you that you are loved, because they aren't here to say it. One day you'll meet them, little Teddy. I hope to god that that's not for a long, long time." Her voice failed altogether and she managed to put Teddy down and get out of the room before she collapsed onto the ground, sobbing into the floorboards.

"I miss you." She gasped in between sobs. "I promise, I won't let you down. I promise I'll take care of him. I promise. I promise."

Later on she slipped back into the room. From her pocket she pulled out the picture she had taken from Remus's pocket and placed it on the table beside their sleeping child. It was taken on their wedding day. They were smiling and waving, and once in a while they kissed or blew kisses. She left again.

"Come on Teddy! There's nothing to be afraid of." River said. It was time to leave for the Hogwarts express, for Teddy's first year.

" I know." The boy said reluctantly.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"My parents went to school there." He said.

"Yes, they did." She confirmed.

"They died there, too." He said.

Memories flooded her mind, memories of blood, battle, and tears.

"Yes they did. Teddy, they loved that castle very much. They died defending the castle and the people in it. They loved their school years there. Your father would always come home, before I went to school and tell me all about his adventures and the mischief he got into at school."

"As the son of a marauder and the adopted son of a Weasely I expect you to raise hell." George called from the doorway.

River threw a balled up sock at her husband from the laundry pile she was working on. He clutched his side where it hit him and yelled, "I yield I yield!"

Teddy laughed. River saw her opportunity to take care f his fear, once and for all.

"What are you?" she asked.

"I'm a Lupin." Teddy answered.

"That's right. That means that you are clever enough, and brave enough to be the best wizard in Hogwarts, and don't you forget it!"

"What does being a Weasely mean?" George asked.

"That you have a billion family members. That you are never alone. That you are brave, and you are Filch's worst nightmare." River responded before Teddy could.

"Blimey! Is that old bat still around?" George asked. River glared.

"You ready?" George asked, clapping his foster son on the shoulder.

"Yeah." Teddy replied.

"Love you sweetheart. Goodbye and good luck." River said, and George took Teddy to the station.

"Make them proud." She whispered, the pain of their passing dulled to a throb in her chest. "Like you have already."


End file.
